By Graeme Murray & Katie Dollard
The 'most modified man in the world' has had his hand split in half in what is believed to be a 'world first' procedure.
Marcelo ‘B-boy’ De Souza Ribeiro spent years transforming his body with over 1,500 tattoos across his skin as well as various body modifications. But he claims to be the first person in the world to have the split hand procedure.
The 40-year-old artist shared details of his latest body change which he described as a “devil hand” Marcelo said: “I'm making a new modification that doesn't exist in the world yet. I was already researching about body modifications in the world and from what I saw no one has yet made a similar modification."
Two months ago, the Brazilian native, based in São Paulo, spoke to a friend who specialises in extreme body modification to plan the procedure. The pair did plenty of research before picking up the scalpel. Over the years, Marcelo has spent around £29,000 on his tattoos and body modifications and estimates that 98% of his body has been altered. He has recently added eight more tattoos, a new implant in his arm and one in his forehead.
But the devil hand didn’t cost the dad a thing, with his friend doing it for free. He said: ”First, we started doing surgeries on the hand, removing excess oil and fat from the sides, to make it slimmer. Then I began to see the possibility of making an opening in it through the middle where you can have opening and closing movements and a firmer folding of the hand!”
Marcelo, who is originally from Bocaiuva, underwent three sessions, at one hour each while under anaesthetic. He added: “People have already seen my hand and think it is interesting but they say they don't have the courage to do it. I'm happy with what I did I don't feel any change regarding hand mobility, it's completely normal!”
Marcelo previously made headlines because of his excessive ink and body modifications which have included fanged metal teeth, skin implants and a split tongue. The dad, who has two children, Aleff Ryan, 10, and Hilary Beatriz, 20, and a four-year-old grandson, even tattooed his own eyeballs.
Marcelo, who has 75,000 followers on Instagram (@marcelbboy), considers his body an “art exhibition”. His daughter Beatriz also shares her dad’s passion and has five tattoos of her own.
In February The Mirror reported on a tattoo fanatic who hopes to cover his entire body in ink had spent £3,000 on metal hair spikes Juluisz, who has over 28,700 followers on TikTok (@inkedjuliusz2 .3), has spent years amending his appearance and plans to get every area of visible skin inked in his future.
The 24-year-old content creator says he first knew he wanted to get tattooed when he was just eight-years-old – with flashback images from the past showing his journey from fresh-faced teen to his current appearance. And he’s happy to pay a steep price for his look too.
His metal mohawk cost more than £3000(€3,500) and his tattoos ranged from €80 to €1,200 (£1000) each.
